re: Jason Williams federal tax evasion trial starts today

Al Copeland’s attorney got his law license back, and without much delay after getting out the joint.

This isn’t a New Orleans jury. There were people from about 5 different parishes in the jury pool.

I'm not an attorney, but I believe if the statement is egregious enough it can be cause for a mistrial.

He be witch hunt

It’s racist to investigate him. The ‘system’ is racist.

The prosecutors are racist. If the jurors convict him they are all racist regardless of color.

I can say this without knowing one fricking thing about the case.

I don’t need to know ANYTHING about the case. The fact that charges are being brought against him is proof of racism.

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if he's getting tried by the feds he's fricked. dont they have like a 90% + conviction rate?

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Once you figure in all the Republicans, yes. The democrats are convicted at a lower rate.

I don't know what all the prosecution has left to present, but their first few days including their star witness looks pretty bad for them. This case isn't what it sounded like before it went to trial.

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Do tell.

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I don't have any knowledge outside of news reports and what reporters are tweeting from court. But the short version is, Williams gave all his information to the accountant, who prepared the returns for him, and even the accountant doesn't say Williams told him to lie. How do you put Williams in prison for that, unless you claim he "knew" what the guy was doing was wrong. Seems pretty hard to prove. That would be a pretty good defense for anyone charged with a tax crime. Isn't that what every businessman in America does- hand their information to their accountant who prepares the return?

Their star witness is the tax preparer, who has had to admit to a huge number of lies. He claimed, falsely, to be a CPA. He even lied to the grand jury in this case, claiming to have an accounting degree which he doesn't. He claimed to be a CPA as part of some unrelated fraud scheme he isn't being prosecuted for. He admitted to continuing to file fraudulent returns for himself, even after the IRS started investigating him, and after Williams was no longer his client. At one point he was asked what he was thinking when he filed false tax returns and he said "I wasn't thinking." He was allowed to plead guilty to only one crime, despite having 1,500 other clients who he probably did the same thing for. But even he can't say that Williams ever told him to lie, or take a false deduction, or failed to give him all the information needed to report his income.

One thing in the openings that sounded bad for Williams was when the government talked about them having lots of cash income in his office. You can get busted for that if you don't report it. But, the prosecutors also didn't talk like they really had the goods on Williams for not reporting it all, such as having bank deposit slips or something. So, we will see. It just sounded like if they get him on anything it may be the cash.

We will see.

Hmm. From what I was reading, limited to live tweets on WDSU, (so not reliable necessarily), Timothy said Williams was not happy with the original tax returns and wanted them amended, Williams/Burdette provided the P&Ls used to amend the returns and Burdette asked him to increase the expenses, among other things. He testified as to being pressured by them and that Burdett would sometimes not accept returns and send back.

Seems like could be some issue between Williams and Burdette, as she appears to be more directly involved in interactions with Timothy.

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I heard about the accountant lying about being a CPA, and I agree that hurts a little

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Often times "should have known" is treated the same as if you did know.

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I don't understand how a high earning attorney finds this guy in Westwego and utilizes him for personal and business tax? It reeks of JW knowing that if this is exposed they can use all of this guy's poor representations and vices to make a case he is a fraud later.

Do my bidding because I can make you out to be a bigger scumbag than me at a later date